


Hunger

by Okumen



Category: Kamen Rider Zi-O
Genre: Gen, mentions of abuse, mentions of terrible injury, onesided? i don't know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 01:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20268151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okumen/pseuds/Okumen
Summary: Woz hungers, so he eats.





	Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know yet exactly how I want to write Woz, but anyway. I marathoned the show and I love him.

Woz hungers, so he eats.

It is not the same as what he wants, no amount of rice or sugary pie can fill him, he always stays hungry.

It reminds him of before, of a time when he had yet to fall into the lap of Oma Zi-O, into his service. Days filled with non-ending hunger and cold.

It was the same for everyone, of course- food was a luxury and so was sleeping in a warm bed, whole clothes, clean skin. But it was a different hunger, nonetheless.

People opposed Oma Zi-O. How could they not object to his rule, when he was cruel and vile, the worst Overlord to ever be?

To Woz, however, it was somewhat different. He was part of the Rebellion, however for another reason than others; lies was his trade, just as much as truth.

He joined the Rebellion on his lieges orders, infiltrated their ranks, to become part of something he didn’t believe in, because they were not who had saved him, when he needed it the most. His Overlord had.

Nobody would believe him if he said so, of course. It did not align with what people knew of Oma Zi-O. True, that was not an odd belief, after all, Oma Zi-O dominated them with a hard hand and fear. But he had reached out a hand to Woz, had reached past his suffering, seen his gift, suppressed by those meant to treasure him the most. _You are a treasure,_ Oma Zi-O said, days after, when Woz let him see what he was capable of.

It was gratitude, but not only that.

But Oma Zi-O had been the one to press the lip of a bottle to Woz’ dry mouth, cut pieces of a juicy apple past the blood caked on his cracked lips, had been the one to turn back time on the leg, mangled not only by part of a building coming down on him.

“Hero Worship”, was a phrase from the past that he knew, but shouldn’t. But it wasn’t hero worship, because Oma Zi-O wasn’t a hero. He saved Woz, but it wasn’t just that he had given Woz a taste of being cradled in strong, safe arms, or a hot bath (or a bath at all), or a gentle touch. It was that but it was also a purpose, permission to be himself, the end of his tormentors.

Oma Zi-O was an evil Overlord, _the_ evil Overlord, so it was impossible for him to be a hero, even to just one person.

If one were to ask, and he were to actually answer in earnest, it was because nobody could make Woz feel as Oma Zi-O did.

His Overlord welcomed him back. He listened to Woz’ words as he laid out a report, of what he had learned during his stint with the Rebellion, they discussed the trap they were to lay out for them.

And then he welcomed him back, welcomed him _home_.

Woz may have had a home before, in theory, but never in heart. The comfort of those words, that he had somewhere to return, to the side of somebody who needed him, who didn’t force him to hide who he was, what he could do, was most precious to him.

This feeling of longing, of not getting what he wants (though his young Overlord says it as well, once Woz moves in, it’s not the same, there’s an _off_ feeling about it) is transformed into that hunger, insatiable because it’s not truly food that he hungers for.

So he eats, to at least fool his body, to fool his mind, though he knows it’s not actually helping him, only Oma Zi-O will — and perhaps one day while he still remains, his young Overlord will finally grasp that title — but it’s better than not making his body think that it’s just the lack of enough food that it wrong.

It’s not enough, but it’s something, and that will have to _be_ enough, for the time being.


End file.
